Class begins

Well September is here and school begins.

The classroom door is closed as of yesterday thus only the students who "registered" and who will send me their confirmation that they still want to attend will be "officially" recognized!

What does that mean?

Well all photos I send will be to those students only.
Homework will be analyzed and comments will be made.
Technical Manuals will be sent
Formative evaluation will be done
Specific problems and issues will be addressed
Finally awards will be given to these students.

Others can "observe" however.

I will assume that you all have now some old skis, some basic tools, and some idea why you want to take this course.

Let me begin by asking all of you the either create an email specific for this course or allow me to send you various documents via your email. Please confirm you are still "attending" and confirm what email you want me to use. I need this since I have already have an exercise for you using the Salomon Technical Manual! I hope you all can receive PDF documents.

Also you are all from various countries, for some English is not your first language so please feel free to ask questions for clarification. I do not have your level of formal education ( high school, university, post-graduate studies, technical studies) so please feel free to comment on my presentations as far as clarity and precision.

I never give a course the same way to all classes. I tailor the class to you and your needs. Please feel free to comment at the end of each class.

I have planned many projects, "homework" and activities to help you understand concepts and terms. It is your choice to do them or not, however if you want an "official" course diploma and be one of the candidates for the class prize you must do all work!

This week we shall try to get all the technical issues resolved ( platforms MAC PC, video conferencing possibilities, Skype possibilities, picture transfers). Once we have all the issues resolved and I have my "real" class list done then we will be ready to begin!

I would appreciate getting from you and your specific needs, that perhaps are not listed in the class outline. I can and will stress some topics more if the need arises.

A small introduction is also in order. Who is this fellow Pavel! Why is he doing this?

I am a ski fanatic that has done many activities in the skiing world. If you read my profile you will note that I believe that skiing is a way of life. I have been skiing since I was 2 years old and now I am a dinosaur ! I am a ski instructor and a ski instructor trainer, was a ski patroller and as a student I worked in various ski shops until I became a buyer for a chain of sports shops. I test proto-type skis for various companies since my formal training is in evaluation . I teach at a university courses in;test design, IQ testing, Test bias and research design.
Between you and me my real passion is skiing. I only do various activities to pay for my skiing! I have one major pathology I collect skis, since I hope to open a ski museum soon.

Enough about me. If you have visited internet sites you will note that there are two types of sites. Those centered on the person. You know the me me me sites. With pictures, lists of awards, dogs cats, etc.. The other is subject oriented. This course is not about me! It is about ski tuning and making you the very best tuners in your area. Believe me you will be, the very best!

A short note on the class context.
There will be little theory and even less dogma. I believe in the hands on approach, thus for some of you who know pedagogy I will use the "socio-constructivism" approach in class. In short that means learning via your needs and allowing you to learn by doing!( academics like to impress with long words)! This might very well be the first class in which you are not "forced" to attend and in which you want to truly learn! That is the very best type of class!

A short comment on my shortcomings. First great weakness is that English in not my mother tongue.It is my fourth!I will make mistakes. Please forgive me. If I do not express myself well or clearly please ask me to repeat in another way! I can not stress this more!! Some concepts and terms must be understood for safety reasons. Allow me to provide an example. When we discuss setting the DIN scale on bindings and we look at the origins of the scale two concepts will come up; the "normal distribution" and measurement error! You must understand well these two terms and concepts since they are the bases of how and why you set a DIN.
I stress again, if you do not understand these two terms and I do not explain them clearly,,,,,,STOP ME! It is my fault as a teacher! I will always have your needs in mind!

My second weakness is using computers! I have a love/hate relationship with these.........!!!!! I use them to pass along information and sometimes they sense that I do not "worship them" so strange things happen! Please be patient with me! I use a Mac G5 with dual processors so there may be some "problems " in picture transfer also I have some videos which I will send via DVD thus I will ask you for your address once you begin to trust me! If you are in doubt just give me another address! Since the Rossignol racing video is very long I can not send it via net!

My third weakness is physical. I may be absent for a week or two for a minor operation. I had a planned this operation in August but the physician had many "urgent" cases so.... I will not disappear! I promise to complete this course with you so just be patient!

I have many other weaknesses and I am sure you will find them out during the course, however there is one strength which I have which will make this course interesting! I love to teach so every class will be interesting. Every class will be full of activities and you will learn the art and science of tuning.

Note the two words I used; ART and SCIENCE!

Art because there is some "personal" intuitive aspects to tuning.

Science because there are studies which try to indicate why such procedure is better, why such wax is better, why such base structure is faster!

The great tuner marries the two and knows the correct proportion!


Enough talking!

Welcome to the class and have a great time learning!

Respectfully,
Pavel

interesting introduction pavel. It makes me regret not subscribing on the tuning course... Well, the thing is that my university provides me with a very bad schedule. It would be hard to coordinate with class times. That, added to the fact that it is not that easy (nor cheap :) ) to find old skis and tools here in argentina. What does being an "observer" mean?
agusl

P.D: good luck on the course to you pavel and to the attendants, too.

Pavel,

I think if it is not already clear to all the others, your introduction should have included that you enjoy sharing your knowledge in hopes others will come to enjoy skiing to the extent you know that it can be enjoyed. We all have experienced some level of enjoyment from it or else we wouldn't be here; but I hope to learn to enjoy it to as close to the full extent that's available -- and I think that's your hope too. When I learn to tune, as you have shown me, and practice ... and practice to get it right, some level of that enjoyment should be approached. (At least the skis won't be the problem )

Mike